Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ...of the soil, careful selection of the seed, and rational methods are as yet only found on a few Eussian plantations, more often in the regions of Tashkend and very rarely indeed in the territories of Fergana and Samarkand. It may be of interest to give a brief description of the methods adopted by the average Eussian planter. He breaks up his soil with the primitive Asiatic wooden plough, known as the sokha; he harrows, the field with a single board, covers the seed by hand, fertilizes his soil in only rare instances, takes no pains in the selection of the seed which he sows broadcast; in a word, employs only the most primitive methods, and in spite of his imperfect system of cultivation generally harvests a good crop, thanks to the exceedingly favorable conditions of soil and climate. In the following a glimpse is given of the several stages of cultivation as employed by the Eussian planter in his efforts to grow American upland cotton: First, autumn irrigation, rf the soil require it; second, autumn ploughing, only resorted to occasionally, as the natives rarely plough in the fall; third, spring ploughing and haiTowing; fourth, division of the fields into beds, also not universal; fifth, irrigation; sixth, sowing and covering the seed; seventh, irrigation; eighth, thinning out the plants, weeding, and hoeing; ninth, irrigation; tenth, hoeing; eleventh, irrigation; twelfth, hoeing; thirteenth, trimming, not everywhere practiced; finally, cotton-picking. In most cases the number of irrigations may be placed at three or four after sowing, which takes place generally about the first of May. The cost of production, including picking and cleaning, of American upland cotton in Turkestan on tlie estates of Eussian planters, from whom only reliable data...show more